Man caught in teen’s closet pleads not guilty to sexual assault

A man who was allegedly half naked when Wake Village police removed him from a 14-year-old girl’s closet in December pleaded not guilty to sexual assault of a child in Bowie County.

Johnny Ray Shanklin, 27, was allegedly “detained” by the girl’s mother after she found him in her daughter’s closet Dec. 9. Wake Village police responded at approximately 3:15 a.m. to a house on Arizona Street.

Officers allegedly found Shanklin in the closet, unclothed from the waist down, with condoms in his hand.
Shanklin was indicted earlier this month by a Bowie County grand jury for sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony. The offense is punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

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Shanklin appeared with a member of the Bowie County Public Defender’s Office on Friday before 5th District Judge Bill Miller for arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty. Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter is prosecuting the case.

Shanklin is scheduled for a pretrial hearing April 26. His bond is set at $100,000 and he is being held in the Bi-State jail.